The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon

"There’s no reason to stop at making her the Lord of Erast?"

"Of course. The scenario tells you to raise Rubia to a lord, but in this situation, a mere lord could never develop her domain." Isaac lifted his beak and went on. "Think. You said war is coming soon. Could a petty lord of Erast calmly build up her lands in that storm?"

I knew what he meant.

"If she opposes the war, another, surer road to assassination opens before that human."

I already knew Rubia’s nature, but I asked anyway, "And if she supports it?"

"That’s worse, hell itself. Erast is practically a coalition. They’ll be swept aside early. How would a single lord escape that tide?"

He was right. Kirk Ray, once Lord of Erast, lost his lands and was butchered on the Red Fox Plains.

"Then what should we do? Do you have a good alternative?"

"Keke… After dying this many times, widen your view. You need real influence, enough to halt the war or profit from it. For now, let me show you one entertaining possibility."

Instead of going underground, Isaac shot higher than anyone into the sky. ***

We turned south along the highway due to Isaac’s lead. Two days later, we arrived in Grassmere, the city of arms.

I slipped through the gate with Isaac and entered the inner keep to greet the lord. "I came to confirm something."

"By all means! Look anywhere you wish! Do whatever you like with the underground where that damned sorcerer tinkered, O’ Emissary!"

"..."

"Then I shall."

He wasn’t bluffing. The lord handed me the key to the great hall and flung wide the path to the underground tomb. "Good. Go straight in."

We reached the innermost chamber, where Isaac’s coffin lay.

[The lone red flower laid bare, the peeling veil of reenactment, all begins with Isaac’s gaze…]

Kugugugugugu…!

Behind the rounded egg, a secret passage appeared, just like the one I’d seen before. However, instead of being just a meter wide, the corridor opened three times broader. I compared it to how I’d barely squeezed through before by stamping Malphas’s sigils everywhere.

"I have a question. Where do your incantations come from?"

Whenever Isaac cast sorcery, he recited long chants in a dozen tongues. At first, I thought they followed some fixed rules. Doubt crept in when he tossed his own name into them, however he pleased.

"Where else? I composed them, obviously."

"Umm… Is it really fine to just… make them up?"

"Don’t pick a fight with my hobbies. When I was young, I always dreamed of being a poet."

"Hard to believe."

"Why, because I still sound like one? Huh?" Pouting, he swept past the threshold, as if done talking. "You said you’d been here before, didn’t you?"

I nodded and moved on. The crow effigies that glowed of their own accord were beautiful even now, shimmering in the pitch-black dark. After a long walk, the end of the passage brightened.

Sseu-sseu-sseu…

White-hot liquid danced in the dark.

"Do we go in there?"

A colossal door. The demonic gate the young duchess had battered countless times without leaving a scratch.

Isaac shook his head. "We can’t open this yet. Wait."

Flap!

He spread his left wing. No talismans, no written spells. A wavering shadow trailed from his wingtip. It was the shadow of fire, a long chain, and a mirror. Then he unfurled his right wing. A wind rose from it, sweeping the black shadows born from the left, and draping them over the surroundings.

A door opened in empty space. It felt as if Isaac had imposed the concept of a door upon the real wall with nothing but his will.

Isaac flew below first. "I can’t hold it long. Hurry."

Flap!

As I stepped through, a vast shaft opened before me. I was gripping a ladder before I knew it.

As if reading my thoughts, Isaac called up to me, "Even if I told you, you wouldn’t grasp it. It’s multi-layered barriers. An immaterial rampart of imagery. After I discovered the hidden passage, I overlaid my own ward so no one else could ever find it."

"That, I won’t be able to copy."

"You call that a revelation? Planning to come alone? If you want back in, you’ll have to ask me to let you through."

I climbed down quickly. The deeper we went, the broader the tunnel became.

Thud.

After about thirty meters, my boots hit the floor. I followed his lead, scanning the surroundings. The style felt strangely familiar.

It resembled the capital’s secret passage that Naneow Tropin had shown me—the Path of Freedom.

Her words came back to me.

"A thousand years ago, humans dug this out to escape the apostles. I found it while tracking scattered Lurium across the land."

"This is one of the ancients’ secret routes? In the south, too…"

Isaac pecked my calf for fun and chuckled. "Heh-heh. You said you’d seen it in the capital? The network here is actually broader."

His next words stunned me.

"Yublam, Erast, Grassmere, Erendale, Davenhall, Colchester. This passage links six cities."

"It connects six cities? But Davenhall, Colchester… what are those?"

Erast, Yublam, Grassmere, those I knew. Erendale lay in the south-central region, near Isaac’s old cult. However, the other two names were entirely new.